Chapter 24 #2
“More,” she pleaded on a sigh. “Fuck me, Wolfe.”
Holding my hips still, I redirected my cock so that I was fucking into her every time Rhys slammed into me. Sweat broke out along my forehead as I tried to hang on, desperate to make Amy come before I let go. I wasn’t sure that was going to happen.
It was too much.
Not enough.
“Holy fuck,” I growled. “Fuck … me…”
Amy’s nails dug into my back as she cried out my name over and over. It took a second to realize she was coming. Once I did, my body took over, my cock swelling, my balls drawing up tight to my body.
“Rhys … oh, fuck… Gonna…” I roared my release as it barreled through me, every cell in my body overwhelmed by sensation.
Seconds later, Rhys groaned behind me, his body stilling as he let himself go.
Amy
I might’ve been slightly jealous of Wolfe.
I'd never seen something as incredibly beautiful as that man when he gave himself completely to someone else. It had stolen my breath and my heart at the same time. Then again, the look of pure ecstasy on Rhys’s face when he’d claimed Wolfe… I had felt that right down in my soul.
So, maybe I was a little jealous of both of them.
And now, as I lay between Rhys and Wolfe, I was scared to close my eyes.
I wanted this night to last forever. I'd never felt more complete than I did right then, with these two men. It all felt a little surreal. Although the L word hadn’t been mentioned once tonight by anyone, I knew I'd been surrounded by it since I walked into Rhys’s house.
Truthfully, I hadn’t felt anything even remotely close to this sort of emotion since before I met him.
Still, I had to wonder when this happy-go-lucky feeling was going to end.
I knew it wouldn’t last forever. As much as I wanted it, my life wasn’t mapped out that way.
I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And that shoe just so happened to be a two-hundred-pound monster I was waiting to jump out at me around every corner.
“Come here, girl,” Wolfe whispered, tugging me until I was curled up against his side. He kissed my forehead. “Why can’t you sleep?”
I shrugged, but the movement was limited because of my position. Resting my head on his chest, I draped my arm over his stomach, my hand resting on his chest. I loved when Wolfe held me like this. It made me feel safe, cherished.
“I’m sorry about tonight,” he added, his voice low.
Hugging him tighter, I swallowed the lump in my throat and tilted my head slightly. When he bent his, I kissed him softly, letting my lips linger on his.
“It ended well,” I told him.
“It did.” He brushed his lips across mine. “You made my birthday perfect.”
My heart squeezed.
“Only one thing could’ve made it better,” he whispered.
I lifted my head and stared into his eyes. “What’s that?”
Wolfe pulled my head down, his warm breath fanning my ear. “If we’d both been inside you at the same time.”
A shiver marched down my spine. The kind that left my body energized, my nipples hardening.
But at the same time, trepidation coursed over my skin.
The two of them taking me at the same time …
that would be the ultimate possession. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that. I might never be ready for that.
“Amy.”
I realized he was cupping my face, staring back at me. I forced a smile.
“Not till you’re ready,” he said, his tone reassuring. “You call the shots here, believe it or not.”
I studied his face for a moment. “How do you figure that?”
I felt Rhys shift, my eyes sliding over to him. He was awake, watching us.
“Because that’s the way it is,” Wolfe answered.
I shook my head. I wanted to believe it, but it didn’t seem as though it could be real. Me calling the shots? I'd never called the shots.
“It’s true.” Rhys’s voice was scratchy, deep. Sexy.
When I tried to pull away, Wolfe rolled me onto my back and both men lifted their heads, staring down at me. I watched them, dividing my attention between the two of them. I reached up and cupped each of their cheeks.
“I’m not sure how I got so lucky,” I whispered.
Wolfe put his hand over mine, then turned his head and kissed my palm. “I’m the lucky one.”
Rhys smiled, linking his fingers with mine and bringing them to his mouth. “That was my line.”
“Where do we go from here?” I asked. I knew it was the question all three of us wanted an answer to. “I mean … we can’t do what we did tonight for much longer.” I shook my head, then looked at Rhys. “I don’t want to pretend I’m not with you when we’re out in public.”
Rhys nodded. “I know.”
That didn’t sound as though he had an answer.
“So, is this it? We’ll be together in private?” I didn’t like the idea of that. “Sure, I get it. But it’s … it’s not what I want.”
“I’m all in,” Wolfe stated, his tone matter-of-fact. “I have nothin’ to hide.”
I looked at Rhys again. He didn’t look quite as sure. Then again, I knew his job could be at stake. He was an elected official. I knew from what I'd heard that he was in the first year of his four-year term. That meant he might not make it to a second term, and I knew he loved his job.
“Why does it have to be so hard?” I whispered.
“It’s not,” Wolfe replied, leaning down and pressing his mouth to mine. “It’s not hard. Not hard at all.”
I wished I could believe him, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were slipping out of my grasp. One second I felt on solid ground, the next as though the earth was crumbling beneath me.
I wanted to hold on to them. Not just in the moment, either.
More importantly, I wished Rhys would commit to us both.
Because without him being all in…
It wouldn’t even matter.
Rhys
I was up before Amy and Wolfe the following morning.
I'd set my phone alarm to wake me after they’d fallen asleep.
I'd slipped out of my own house, leaving them asleep in my bed, and knowing they were there, in my home, in my bed… It had been difficult to leave. Not because I didn’t want them there.
On the contrary, I realized as I was slipping out of the house that I wanted to wake up to them every damn morning, to go to sleep next to them every night.
Like Wolfe, I had realized I was all in.
At some point last night—or maybe it was this morning, I wasn’t sure—I had realized they were it for me. I would never want anyone else the way I wanted them.
Not that I had time to dwell on the state of my love life.
I had agreed to meet Joanna Tannenbaum this morning regarding her unofficial Jane Doe case.
She’d called about ten minutes ago to say she was running late and I tried not to let it bother me.
Around these parts, people tended to be early, not coming up with excuses. But not everyone was from a small town.
So, I had agreed to meet her over at the diner, where I now was with a cup of coffee and slightly less patience. I knew it was a risk being out in the open, but since Wolfe would be at church, I figured it was as safe as any place in town.
I knew instantly when the white Ford Taurus pulled into the parking lot that Joanna Tannenbaum had finally arrived.
I watched as she climbed out of her car, smoothed down her shirt, and straightened her sunglasses.
She wasn’t quite what I'd expected. Then again, I hadn’t really known what to expect, but the woman who resembled a supermodel more than a detective certainly hadn’t been it.
Her blond hair was hanging over her squared shoulders, and the shoulder holster and badge weren’t concealed.
When she stepped inside, she removed the dark shades and peered around. She caught Donna’s attention, and a second later, she was being pointed in my direction.
I stood and held out my hand to greet her. “Mornin’.”
Her grip was firm. “I’m sorry I’m late, Sheriff.”
“Not a problem.” I motioned for her to sit and once she did, I took my seat.
Donna strolled over. “Can I get you some coffee?”
“Yes. Please. That would be great.” She turned toward me, then lowered her voice. “Thank you again for meeting with me.”
I nodded. “You mentioned a Jane Doe case.”
“Yes.” She turned toward Donna when the woman set a white mug in front of her, then poured the coffee. “Thank you.”
Donna nodded, then disappeared.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do this over the phone, but it’s”—she held my stare, her expression serious—“sensitive.”
“How so?”
She swallowed hard, then reached for her purse. A second later, she pulled out a picture and pushed it across the table.
I stared down into the familiar brown eyes of the woman I'd left in my bed just a short time ago. She looked different though. Her hair was board straight and dark. She wasn’t smiling as she stood next to…
Leaning forward, I snapped my eyes to the detective. “Is that Chief Kelly Jackson?”
She nodded and took a deep breath. “About a year ago, Chief Jackson’s girlfriend conveniently went to Pennsylvania to take care of her ailing grandmother.”
No, she didn’t, but I didn’t say as much. I figured Detective Tannenbaum knew that already since she was sitting in front of me.
“It just so happened it was at the exact same time that a Jane Doe was left in a drainage ditch not far from here.”
I could tell she was watching my face to gauge my reaction. I didn’t respond.
“Personally, I think Jane Doe and Amy Manning are one and the same.”
Manning.
Her last name was Manning.
“And how do I play into this?” I asked.
“As you’re aware, Jane Doe was found not far from here.”
I nodded. “She was.”
The detective sighed, clearly not happy that I wasn’t willing to share information. Until I knew what her angle was, I didn’t intend to tell her anything.
“Oddly enough, Chief Jackson has visited Embers Ridge a few times in the past year.”
I sat up straight. “What?”
She nodded.
“Look,” she finally said after sipping her coffee. “Something felt really off to me about the relationship that Chief Jackson had with Amy Manning. I’ve worked for him for quite a while, even before he became the police chief.”
“When did he make chief?” It had been headline news out of Houston, but I didn’t remember the time frame.
“Eleven months ago.”
Well, that was definitely coincidental since Jane Doe had made the news almost thirteen months ago now.
“Chief Jackson and Amy were together for nearly five years,” Detective Tannenbaum explained. “That’s a long time to simply let someone go from your life. And that’s exactly what he did. If your girlfriend of five years went to take care of a family member, wouldn’t you expect her to come back?”
I figured the question was rhetorical. And yes, I would.
“Before she just disappeared from his life, Jackson talked about her all the time. He seemed enthralled with her.” Joanna brushed her hair back from her face.
“Whether or not that was genuine is another story entirely. However, he did talk about her. And then suddenly, she’s gone.
Simply vanished from his life and he acted as though nothing happened. ”
“Did he mention they broke up when she left?”
“No. And that’s the strangest part. According to the story that’s traveled around, she simply went to take care of her grandmother, but she wasn’t coming back.”
“Were they married?”
She shook her head, then took another sip of her coffee. “No. In the beginning, he mentioned they would get married, but that died off about a year into their relationship.”
“And you don’t think she’s in… Where’d you say? Pennsylvania?”
“No.” Detective Tannenbaum rested her arms on the table. “I don’t. For one, Amy Manning didn’t have any living relatives.”
“And you know this how?”
“Like I said, the relationship seemed off to me. I was introduced to her a couple of times at various functions and she stuck with me for whatever reason. Sweet girl. Very young. Almost na?ve, I guess you could say. Anyway, when the man who seemed to be so in love with this woman simply let her go and didn’t look back, I had to wonder. ”
I continued to stare at her.
“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, a small smile forming on her mouth. “And no, I have no personal relationship with Kelly Jackson. Never have. I’ve worked for him for a long time, and to be honest, there’s something about him that’s off.”
“Off how?”
“His demeanor. The man is the no-nonsense, take-no-shit sort of guy. He’s a hard-ass, but when it comes to cops, he’s fair.
However, that’s not the case when it comes to criminals.
As a patrolman, he was feared. There have been stories about him.
About incidents. No charges have ever stuck and he’s risen in the ranks despite the rumors. But I think he’s hiding a dark side.”
The man was hiding the fact that he was a fucking monster.
“And what brings you to Embers Ridge?” I already knew the answer.
“I’ve kept my eye on the Jane Doe case. The fact that it never went anywhere concerned me. Like I said, it was too coincidental that his girlfriend disappeared at the same time Jane Doe appeared. So, I watched him and waited for him to screw up. It’s inevitable. All criminals screw up eventually.”
I waited patiently for her to explain.
“He turned in an expense report. A gasoline charge. From here in Embers Ridge.”
Son of a bitch.
“No, I shouldn’t have been snooping, but—”
“It was too coincidental,” I completed for her. I got it.
She nodded. “Honestly. I think Amy Manning is…”
The bells over the door jingled and I looked up as Wolfe and Amy walked into the restaurant.
The detective glanced over at the same time she inhaled sharply and then finished her sentence. “…here in Embers Ridge.”
Well, fuck.